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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 12 TO DECEMBER 20, 2015

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the graphic, but organized by park, not by topic. For more on December 2015 at Walt Disney World, click here.

Note that typos happen, and schedules change! If something seems odd, or if you want to double check, use the calendar links near the bottom to get the latest official Disney World scoop.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/12/-12/20/2015

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-1a 12/12, 9a-7p 12/13, 9a-12MN 12/14, 9a-7p 12/15, 8a-12MN 12/16, 9a-7p 12/17, 8a-7p 12/18, and 8a-1a 12/19 and 12/20

Epcot will be open from 9a-9.30p 12/12 through 12/18, and 9a-10.30p 12/19 and 12/20

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 8a-10p 12/12 and 12/13, 9a-8p 12/14 through 12/17, and 9a-11p 12/19 and 12/20

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 8a-6.30p 12/12 and 12/13, 9a-6.30p 12/14 and 12/15, 9a-6p 12/16, 9a-6.30p 12/17 and 12/18, and 8a-7p 12/19 and 12/20

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/12/-12/20/2015

Saturday 12/12 Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Sunday 12/13 Morning:  none Evening: Hollywood Studios

Monday 12/14 Morning: Magic Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 12/15 Morning: Epcot Evening:  none

Wednesday 12/16 Morning:  Animal Kingdom  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 12/17 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Friday 12/18 Morning:  Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 12/19 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

Sunday 12/20  Morning: Magic Kingdom  Evening: Hollywood Studios

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/12/-12/20/2015

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p 12/12 through 12/18; 12 noon and 3.30p 12/19 and 12/20
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p 12/12, 12/14, and 12/16; 9.30 and 11.30p 12/19 and 12/20

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/12-12/20/2015

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p 12/12, 12/14 and 12/16; 8p 12/19 and 12/20

Illuminations at Epcot: 9.30p 12/12 through 12/18; 10.30p 12/19 and 12/20

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8.30 and 10p 12/12 and 12/13; 7 and 8.30p 12/14 through 12/17; 7 and 9p 12/18; 7 and 8.30p 12/19 and 12/20

Symphony in the Stars at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 11p 12/18 through 12/20

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/12/-12/20/2015

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/12/-12/20/2015

See this for forecasts.

DISCLAIMER

Everything is subject to change and typos! Check the Disney Calendars for updates and official schedules. These calendars can be found by clicking the following links:

• Magic Kingdom Calendar
• Hollywood Studios Calendar
• Animal Kingdom Calendar
• Epcot Calendar

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My co-author of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, Josh of easyWDW.com, and I will be doing meet-ups and book signings, and perhaps giveaways too, next week, on Tuesday December 15.

We are gonna be almost everywhere. Here’s our schedule:

• We’ll be meeting and signing at the Animal Kingdom, near Restaurantosaurus, Tuesday 12/15 from 3.30 to 4.30p
• We’ll be meeting and signing at the Magic Kingdom, at the Tomorrowland Terrace, Tuesday 12/15 from 5.30 to 6.30p
• Then we’ll be heading over to Epcot, mostly for a private IllumiNations party hosted by the folks at WDW Magazine (especially Carl Trent, also of Dad’s Guide and The Best of WDW), but we will also do a meet and greet in the UK area around 7.45 to 8.15 or 8.30p

On Tuesday itself, check Twitter to stay in tune.  I’m @yourfirstvisit,  and Josh is @easywdw.

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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

THE NOT-SO-REMOVABLE ROOOMS AT DISNEY’S CONTEMPORARY RESORT

By Jim Korkis

A decades-long Disney urban myth still believed by many WDW guests and even cast memberS is that the Contemporary Resort was designed so that the individual rooms were created like dresser drawers in a way they could be easily slid into the framework and then later unplugged to refurnish the rooms with improvements. Not so–at least the “unplugged” part.

The final design for the Contemporary Resort was a collaboration between Walt Disney Productions, the United States Steel Corporation, and Los Angeles architect Welton Becket, a long-time friend of Walt Disney. There was never any documentation or publicity from any of these organizations about removable rooms.

Walt’s original concept for the Epcot part of his “Florida Project” was that the 20,000 residents originally planned for the “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow” wouldn’t own their apartments and houses.

This would allow various companies from American industry to come in every five or ten years and re-do the entire kitchen or the wiring, so that these residences would feature the latest technology to showcase to visitors.

This idea may have been the beginning of the urban myth of the replaceable rooms at the Contemporary.

Actually, the exterior design of the Contemporary was inspired by a building in Walt’s original model for Epcot that would have been a shopping center between the center of the city and the green belt.

Walt was always fascinated by new construction methods, even as far back as the Monsanto House of the Future at Disneyland made from nearly indestructible plastic.

United States Steel Corporation, through its then newly-formed subsidiary company, U.S. Steel Realty Development, was eager to use and publicize a unique construction method called “unitized modular construction”.

For the Contemporary, they built a superstructure of thirteen steel-trussed A-frames resembling a skeletal honeycomb. Into the honeycomb, they fitted the individual guest rooms manufactured at a 150,000-square-foot floor-space building just a few miles away from the resort.

The rooms were formed on an assembly line, much like automobiles, at the rate of about forty a week. As they passed through each station on the way to completion, the electrical, mechanical and plumbing facilities were added to the room.

Each room was nine feet high, fifteen feet wide and about thirty feet long and had pre-installed air conditioning units, piping, lighting and even mirrors and bath fixtures in the bathrooms. Then, each nine-ton room was placed on trucks and hauled to the Contemporary, where each room was lifted into place by massive cranes and fitted into the steel frame.

They often didn’t fit into those exacting openings on the first try, and because of the structure, they had to alternate installing rooms on the opposite sides to prevent the framework from becoming off balance and tipping over.

Once the rooms were in place and hooked up, they “settled” thanks to movement in the building, gravity and other factors, so they sank just below the original slot. To be removed, among many other challenges, they would have to be lifted up before being pulled out.

They were permanently enclosed in the structure by exterior walls and balconies. When it’s time to replace the wallpaper in the rooms, it makes much more sense to send in a few wallpaper hangers than to remove the exterior walls of the Contemporary, lease an expensive crane, bring in a highly skilled crane crew, disconnect all utilities including sewer connections, carefully remove the rooms (each time leaving a hole in the side of the building, and alternating sides), swap out the room, reconnect everything, and rebuild the exterior walls and balconies.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim. There’s more on Disney’s Contemporary Resort here.

Come back next Friday for even more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 5 TO DECEMBER 13, 2015

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the graphic, but organized by park, not by topic. For more on December 2015 at Walt Disney World, click here.

Note that typos happen, and schedules change! If something seems odd, or if you want to double check, use the calendar links near the bottom to get the latest official Disney World scoop.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/5/-12/13/2015

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-12MN 12/5, 9a-7p 12/6, 9a-11p 12/7, 9a-7p 12/8, 8a-11p 12/9, 9a-7p 12/10 and 12/11, 8a-1a 12/12, and 9a-7p 12/13

Epcot will be open from 9a-9.30p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-9.30p 12/5, 9a-8.30p 12/6, 9a-8p 12/7 and 12/8, 9a-6p 12/9, 9a-8p 12/10, 9a-8.30p 12/11, and 8a-10p 12/12 and 12/13

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 8a-6.30p 12/5 and 12/6, 9a-5p 12/7, 9a-6p 12/8 through 12/11, and 8a-6.30p 12/12 and 12/13

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/5/-12/13/2015

Saturday 12/5 Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Sunday 12/6 Morning:  none Evening: Hollywood Studios

Monday 12/7 Morning: Magic Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 12/8 Morning: Epcot Evening:  none

Wednesday 12/9 Morning:  Animal Kingdom  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 12/10 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Friday 12/11 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 12/12 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

Sunday 12/13  Morning: none  Evening: Hollywood Studios

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/5/-12/13/2015

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p 12/5, 12/7, 12/9 and 12/12

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/5-12/13/2015

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 9p 11/28; 10p 11/30, 12/2 and 12/5

Illuminations at Epcot: 9.30p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7 and 8.30p 12/5 and 12/6; 8.30p 12/7; 7 and 8.30p 12/8; 7 and 8.30p 12/10 and 12/11; 8.30 and 10p 12/12 and 12/13

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/5/-12/13/2015

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/5/-12/13/2015

See this for forecasts.

DISCLAIMER

Everything is subject to change and typos! Check the Disney Calendars for updates and official schedules. These calendars can be found by clicking the following links:

• Magic Kingdom Calendar
• Hollywood Studios Calendar
• Animal Kingdom Calendar
• Epcot Calendar

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OVERVIEW: JUNE 2016 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews June 2016 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, and operating hours; adds a few other notes; and ends with week by week summaries.

If you must go to Disney World in the summer, the beginning of June is your best choice for a first visit.

Crowds, while not good, are lower then than most of the rest of the summer, prices are OK–except at the value resorts–and the full weight of summer weather is not yet in place.

(The end of August is the next best choice.  Prices and crowds are much better, but you are not only in peak summer then, but also the peak of the hurricane season.)

Crowds build over June, peaking the last week of the month.

[Read more →]

This To-Do List is for the FastPass+ Higher Crowd Itinerary. For To-Do-Lists for other itineraries, see this.

If your arrival is May 27 or later the summer of 2017, use this for the first and second Sunday–including the FastPass+ you need to book for then–instead of what’s written here!

A. MORE THAN 180 DAYS BEFORE YOUR PLANNED ARRIVAL DATE

(Note that a good travel agent, such as Destinations in Florida, can do almost all of this for you, for free. If you use Destinations in Florida as you travel agent through a link for this site–like this one–then they share a bit of the pixie dust they get from Disney with me.)

1. Confirm your budget, planned dates, intended hotel, kids’ development and heights, and your transportation choice and its availability for your planned dates.

2. Make your plane reservations, if flying. Make any other needed transportation arrangements.

3. Create your My Disney Experience account here and add your family members to it

4. Set up your hotel and tickets. Call 407-939-7675 (preferred, because this allows you to tell the reservationist which building at your resort you wish to be in), or click here to use Disney’s online system.  (Note: if your dates are later than what the online system permits, see this.)

• If you are following my itinerary, you want the hotel you’ve picked for 8 nights, nine day, no hopper, no “water parks and more” tickets, the Dining Plan, and Disney’s Magical Express if you are flying
• Itineraries other than mine will have different requirements here

B. 181 DAYS BEFORE YOUR ARRIVAL DATE

Decide whether on your first night you’ll be dining at Akershus or the San Angel Inn. Akershus is a princess meal–you’ll have another princess meal at Cinderella’s Royal Table on Thursday.  If you really like princesses, do Akershus; otherwise, San Angel Inn is the better choice.

Login to your MyDisneyExperience.com account, click the “Things to Do” tab at top right, under Dining hit “Make Reservations,” and practice trying to reserve restaurants (hint: use the search box at the upper right).

This may well drive you crazy, but the site works better than it used to…and is likely the only way you can get your Cindy reservations done! (as the site opens up a new reservable day at 6a, whereas the phone reservation line opens at 7a).

Collect your restaurant reservations together. You will want to do them online in order of hardest to reserve first. This is how they are listed below.

C. EXACTLY 6am EST, EXACTLY 180 DAYS BEFORE YOUR ARRIVAL DATE

(For an 180 day calendar, see this).

Be on the restaurant website by at least 5:50am EST, and have your Cindy reservation all set up on the page. Keep refreshing, as you will be let in as soon as Disney’s system decides it is 6a.

Make as many of the following as you have patience for (try to get through at least Chef Mickey’s), in the exact order listed:

• Cinderella’s Royal Table Lunch (dining plan, two credits): Thursday at 11a or later if you can; earlier than 11 only if your sole option…
• Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue (dining plan, two credits): Tuesday 6.15p show. The later time will keep you up later than you need to be, OK if all you can get. Avoid the earlier time–it’ll cut into your park time too much
• Chef Mickey’s (dining plan, one credit) Tuesday 11a.  Later is OK, but not a whole lot earlier–no earlier than 10.30a
• Crystal Palace (dining plan): Second Saturday 6p if you can; earlier OK, but not later
• Akershus Banquet or San Angel Inn (dining plan): First Saturday 7p.  No later, but earlier is OK.
• 50’s Prime Time Café (dining plan): Monday 6p. Can be earlier or later.

For those you don’t make online, make them by calling call (407) WDW-DINE (939-3463)

D. 60 DAYS BEFORE YOUR ARRIVAL DATE

1. Go to your MyDisneyExperience account at 7a and set up the following FastPass+

(If your arrival is May 27 or later the summer of 2017, use this for the first and second Sunday FastPass+ you need to book instead of what’s written below!)

• First Saturday afternoon and evening at Epcot: Tier One: Frozen Ever After. Tier Two: Spaceship Earth and a third ride. The Tier One FastPass+ is your priority. Set the Tier Two times for when your travel plans permit you to be in the park. If one or both Tier Twos is impossible to set at a good time because of your travel schedule, then book just one or two FastPass+.
• First Sunday at the Animal Kingdom: Expedition Everest, DINOSAUR, and Rivers of Light. Set DINOSAUR for 1-2p, Expedition Everest for 2-3p, and Rivers of Light for when it is available.
• Monday at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Tier One: Great Movie Ride. Tier Two: Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones. Set Tower of Terror for 9-10a, Great Movie Ride for 10-11, and Indiana Jones for the noon show time.
• Tuesday at the Magic Kingdom: Space Mountain, Tomorrowland Speedway, and Jungle Cruise. Set Space Mountain for 9-10a, the Speedway for 10-11a, and Jungle Cruise for 3-4p.
• Wednesday at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Tier One: Toy Story Midway Mania; Tier Two: Star Tours and the Frozen Sing-Along. Set Toy Story for 1.10 to 2.10p, Frozen for the 2.30p show, and Star Tours for 3.15-4.15p
• Thursday at the Magic Kingdom: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Enchanted Tales with Belle, and the Haunted Mansion. Target Seven Dwarfs for 1-2p, Belle for 2-3p, and the Haunted Mansion for 3.30-4.30p. (At park open, head to Peter Pan.)
• Friday at Epcot: Tier One: Test Track. Tier Two: Turtle Talk with Crush and a third of your choice. Set Test Track for 10.30a-11.30a, Turtle Talk with Crush for 12.30p to 1.30p, and the third for right after.
• Second Saturday at the Magic Kingdom: Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, and a third ride. Set Big Thunder for 9-10a, and Pirates for 10-11a
• Second Sunday at the Animal Kingdom: Festival of the Lion King, Kali River Rapids if you have Rivers of Light instead for First Sunday, and a third. Book the first available show for Festival of the Lion King, and book Kali (if you have it) during the last hour you plan to be in the park. At park open, head to Kilimanjaro Safaris.

2. Do online check in, requesting as you do special location points

3. Customize your MagicBands

E. NOTES ON PACKING ETC. BEFORE YOU LEAVE

1. Bring your MagicBands in your carry-ons

2. If you use Disney’s Magical Express, you do not need to collect your bags at the Orlando airport unless you arrive late in the evening/at night or are an international traveler. Disney will get them for you and, eventually, deliver them directly to your room. Your bags may arrive hours after you do; so, depending on the weather forecasts, have a carry-on with an appropriate change of clothes for Orlando weather on Saturday, as you will almost certainly go to Epcot on Saturday before your checked bags arrive.

3. Follow the instructions in the Magical Express packet you will receive in the mail regarding both tagging your bags pre-departure, and where to go at the Orlando airport to find your transport to your resort.

4. Bring a copy of your room reservation, confirmation numbers and any tickets for special events you may have received in the mail.

5. Pack breakfast utensils, as they are not always available in the gift shop: bowls, spoons, napkins

6. When you arrive at the hotel, look for the special “On-line Check-in” line, and get into it.

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